I'm looking at getting a SAS3 enclosure with expander to run off a Linux render/file server with a built-in SAS3 controller flashed to IT mode, linked with a single 8644 cable. The application is mainly film post production, so 2k-4k image sequences that are ~5-40MB/frame. This would be for near line access to archived and library material and for doing production backups, rather than for long term archiving. So some bandwidth would be nice, hence SAS3 and not SAS2. My most bandwidth-heavy production requirements are using separate NVMe volumes. The server is currently going to be connected to a single workstation via 100G ethernet until switches get more affordable and I can scale out a bit.
Running as a NAS is not a priority right now, but I might try TrueNAS at some point running in a VM or more likely, get a NAS-dedicated computer later. I'm going to experiment with ZFS, specifically I'm thinking Raidz3 with some persistent L2ARC SSD cache.
My quotidian unit of storage per bay would be a HGST 8TB SAS3 drive backed by four SAS3 SSDs for the persistent L2ARC - enough cache to saturate the 12G bandwidth (~4.4GB/s). I'm also interested in the future to try using dual external 8644 ports to see how much extra bandwidth there is to the host machine.
Ideally I would have 24 bays which helps justify using HDDs across SAS3. I'm tempted to try a more DIY approach to save money, but I'm not an expert in that area. There seem to be quite a lot of large capacity enclosures available which have a SAS2 backplane and a power supply, then you add your own server mobo and expander. What I would need though, is to get one with a SAS3 backplane with 8643 connectors and then I would look to add probably an Areca 8028-24 expander module instead of a motherboard, and run 24 drives. I'm just not seeing any of these Norco type of expander JBODs that are SAS3 though.
Supermicro is of course an option using their own expander and backplanes, and they are quite plentiful on eBay. But from what I can tell from seeing many topics posted it's hard to get the fans running quietly, and drop-in Noctua replacents also don't seem to have solved the issue.
My dark horse alternative is a Gen 1 HGST 4U60. This thing is affordable, ready to go and ticks most boxes. Of course, it's overkill right now but it's got tons of expandability. It's the best deal out there, but just unwieldy - meaning it's ridiculously large especially since I gave up my small office and have my equipment in my apartment for now. Although I prefer the external 8644 ports on the Gen 2, I'm focusing on Gen 1 as apparently the fan noise levels are acceptable and it's certified to run with my chosen SAS3 drive.
Any advice?? Thanks!
Running as a NAS is not a priority right now, but I might try TrueNAS at some point running in a VM or more likely, get a NAS-dedicated computer later. I'm going to experiment with ZFS, specifically I'm thinking Raidz3 with some persistent L2ARC SSD cache.
My quotidian unit of storage per bay would be a HGST 8TB SAS3 drive backed by four SAS3 SSDs for the persistent L2ARC - enough cache to saturate the 12G bandwidth (~4.4GB/s). I'm also interested in the future to try using dual external 8644 ports to see how much extra bandwidth there is to the host machine.
Ideally I would have 24 bays which helps justify using HDDs across SAS3. I'm tempted to try a more DIY approach to save money, but I'm not an expert in that area. There seem to be quite a lot of large capacity enclosures available which have a SAS2 backplane and a power supply, then you add your own server mobo and expander. What I would need though, is to get one with a SAS3 backplane with 8643 connectors and then I would look to add probably an Areca 8028-24 expander module instead of a motherboard, and run 24 drives. I'm just not seeing any of these Norco type of expander JBODs that are SAS3 though.
Supermicro is of course an option using their own expander and backplanes, and they are quite plentiful on eBay. But from what I can tell from seeing many topics posted it's hard to get the fans running quietly, and drop-in Noctua replacents also don't seem to have solved the issue.
My dark horse alternative is a Gen 1 HGST 4U60. This thing is affordable, ready to go and ticks most boxes. Of course, it's overkill right now but it's got tons of expandability. It's the best deal out there, but just unwieldy - meaning it's ridiculously large especially since I gave up my small office and have my equipment in my apartment for now. Although I prefer the external 8644 ports on the Gen 2, I'm focusing on Gen 1 as apparently the fan noise levels are acceptable and it's certified to run with my chosen SAS3 drive.
Any advice?? Thanks!
